108
norms and routinised practices are still highly infl uential in shaping the responses of
water authorities to new challenges (Sehring 2009 ). Many new regulations and
organisations created in the name of IWRM are undermined in practice by the prevalence and persistence of such informal institutions. Representatives of new organisations are often not integrated into decision-making processes and have weak
mandates (Schlüter et al. 2010 ). There is also considerable continuity of leading
personnel in water authorities at different levels, from the national ministries via the
basin water organisations to provincial departments, whose biographies stretch back
to the Soviet era. This “hydrocracy”, or hydraulic bureaucracy, has remained a constant across regime change and organisational restructuring. Water authorities in the
Fergana Valley alone can count on 7000 employees – many of them trained in the
Soviet era – to implement state water policy (Interview Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation). The number of water bureaucrats has, however,
been substantially reduced since the Soviet period. Indeed, Abdullaev argues that,
as a result of severe budget cuts, reduced staff levels and poor on-farm policy implementation, water offi cials no longer command the respect or play the role they once
did in the heyday of Soviet irrigation engineering, when they were the celebrated
heroes of the hydraulic mission of modernisation ( 2012 , p. 103). There is, therefore,
ambivalence to the modern “hydrocracy”: whilst striving to improve the effi ciency
of irrigation systems it is reinforcing the path dependency of not only the physical
infrastructure but also its own raison d’être.
A fourth dimension of path dependency to water management is distinctive by its
absence: consideration of environmental impacts. Ecology was never an issue of
great concern to irrigation and agricultural production in Soviet times and this has
changed little since independence. International shock at the ecological collapse of
the Aral Sea is barely refl ected in the national debate on the future of agriculture and
irrigation. Restoring the Aral Sea has de facto been given up by the authorities as a
lost cause. In face of overwhelming environmental problems and limited prospects
for transnational solutions, resignation has set in (White 2013 ). Even on a local or
regional scale there is little discussion, for instance of the need for minimum environmental fl ows to sustain ecosystem functions. There is no sign that ecosystem
water needs are playing an integral part in water allocation planning in Uzbekistan
(Schlüter et al. 2010 ).
8.4 Researching the Fergana Valley: Tasks and Topics
What role can research play in helping to resolve, or – at least – cope with, these complex challenges? Given the legacy of scientifi c endeavour in this fi eld since Soviet days
and the wealth of scholarly attention paid to water management in Central Asia in the
years since independence, this is not a trivial question. In the face of what to many
observers appears an intractable situation research can fi rst of all raise understanding
of the processes outlined above, querying assumptions and revealing inconsistencies
of existing knowledge. On this basis, it can devise alternative options, mapping out
T. Moss and P. Dobner
norms and routinised practices are still highly infl uential in shaping the responses of
water authorities to new challenges (Sehring 2009 ). Many new regulations and
organisations created in the name of IWRM are undermined in practice by the prevalence and persistence of such informal institutions. Representatives of new organisations are often not integrated into decision-making processes and have weak
mandates (Schlüter et al. 2010 ). There is also considerable continuity of leading
personnel in water authorities at different levels, from the national ministries via the
basin water organisations to provincial departments, whose biographies stretch back
to the Soviet era. This “hydrocracy”, or hydraulic bureaucracy, has remained a constant across regime change and organisational restructuring. Water authorities in the
Fergana Valley alone can count on 7000 employees – many of them trained in the
Soviet era – to implement state water policy (Interview Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation). The number of water bureaucrats has, however,
been substantially reduced since the Soviet period. Indeed, Abdullaev argues that,
as a result of severe budget cuts, reduced staff levels and poor on-farm policy implementation, water offi cials no longer command the respect or play the role they once
did in the heyday of Soviet irrigation engineering, when they were the celebrated
heroes of the hydraulic mission of modernisation ( 2012 , p. 103). There is, therefore,
ambivalence to the modern “hydrocracy”: whilst striving to improve the effi ciency
of irrigation systems it is reinforcing the path dependency of not only the physical
infrastructure but also its own raison d’être.
A fourth dimension of path dependency to water management is distinctive by its
absence: consideration of environmental impacts. Ecology was never an issue of
great concern to irrigation and agricultural production in Soviet times and this has
changed little since independence. International shock at the ecological collapse of
the Aral Sea is barely refl ected in the national debate on the future of agriculture and
irrigation. Restoring the Aral Sea has de facto been given up by the authorities as a
lost cause. In face of overwhelming environmental problems and limited prospects
for transnational solutions, resignation has set in (White 2013 ). Even on a local or
regional scale there is little discussion, for instance of the need for minimum environmental fl ows to sustain ecosystem functions. There is no sign that ecosystem
water needs are playing an integral part in water allocation planning in Uzbekistan
(Schlüter et al. 2010 ).
8.4 Researching the Fergana Valley: Tasks and Topics
What role can research play in helping to resolve, or – at least – cope with, these complex challenges? Given the legacy of scientifi c endeavour in this fi eld since Soviet days
and the wealth of scholarly attention paid to water management in Central Asia in the
years since independence, this is not a trivial question. In the face of what to many
observers appears an intractable situation research can fi rst of all raise understanding
of the processes outlined above, querying assumptions and revealing inconsistencies
of existing knowledge. On this basis, it can devise alternative options, mapping out
T. Moss and P. Dobner